13 chapter - Party Formation (2)

"Candidates 130 and 132 should pass without any problems."

"Aww. If candidate 131 had done just a bit better on the written test, they would’ve passed too. What a shame. Anyway, there are a lot of impressive candidates this quarter."

"Not just this time — recently, the overall level keeps rising. The average mana reserves are getting higher too."

"Their track records are also impressive. They've each successfully cleared dozens of D-Class Gates."

Two out of the three interviewers were smiling broadly.

That’s how satisfied they were with the candidates' overall quality this time.

Among them, a man with completely white hair adjusted his glasses and spoke.

"These days, D-Class Hunters seem to know more about the monsters appearing in Gates than I do."

The middle-aged man sitting next to him waved his hand and replied.

"Come on now. There’s no way they know better than Professor Ji. They just know the details better because they've experienced it firsthand."

"Hah. People like Warrant Officer Choi who actually work in the field have more valuable experience than an old man like me who's been locked up in a research room."

While Professor Ji and Warrant Officer Choi exchanged pleasantries, the woman at the end, who had been reviewing the next candidate’s documents, opened her mouth.

"Do you two remember Hunter Jung Minwoo from the morning interviews?"

"Hmm? Ah, that Hunter. The one who manifested the Mana Infusion ability."

"That guy will rise quickly. I bet he’ll get promoted to B-Class by this fall. Since Team Leader Hong is eyeing him, I guess Taeseong Guild is trying to recruit him too?"

The woman nodded once and said.

"I heard they've already made scout offers. Multiple times."

"Oh? If it’s multiple offers, does that mean he turned them down?"

"Yes."

"Tsk tsk. Taeseong ★ 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 ★ missed out on a good talent. Did someone else poach him?"

"It’s a bit more complicated. He’s leading a guild called 'High.'"

Warrant Officer Choi looked surprised and asked again.

"So that kid's a Guild Master?"

"Yes."

"Hahaha. What a bold young man. Better to be the head of a snake than the tail of a dragon, huh?"

Hong Yura continued speaking with a calm expression.

"There’s another Hunter who caused just as much buzz during the practical exam as Jung Minwoo."

"What? There's another talent like that?"

"Heh."

"He’s about to come in now."

Once the interviewers finished discussing, a staff member opened the door and announced.

"Candidates 133 to 135, please come inside."

The man with number 133 pinned to his chest was Choi Changshik.

For the first ten minutes after the interview started, the questions were fairly routine.

Most of them were about D-Class Gates—strategies for dealing with monsters and their behavioral patterns.

"Mr. Lee Yunseok. What’s the most important thing to watch out for when facing a pack of gnolls?"

"Leaving the area as quickly as possible after the battle."

"And why is that?"

"Because they’re sensitive to the smell of blood, and other gnoll packs nearby might come rushing in."

Sometimes they even asked about monsters from C-Class Gates, but I answered everything smoothly.

It showed how well-prepared I was.

The interview was going smoothly—until Hong Yura threw a question at Choi Changshik.

"Mr. Choi Changshik. You only have two D-Class Gate clear records. Is there a particular reason for that?"

"……."

"Looking at the records, neither was a normal raid. One was an emergency support mission, and the other was an F-Class Gate that got promoted to D-Class after the raid?"

"……That’s correct."

"And during that raid, the F-Class Hunter who accompanied you died, right?"

The atmosphere started turning heavy.

"Team Leader Hong."

Warrant Officer Choi, sitting beside her, tried to stop her, but she didn’t back down.

"I’d like to hear the details if possible. There’s even a rumor that Mr. Choi killed the F-Class Hunter and buried him inside the Gate."

The air in the interview room froze.

Hong Yura broke the silence and continued speaking.

"They say you stayed at the funeral of a Hunter nobody else came to for three days straight. Was that out of guilt?"

Hong Yura was charging ahead like an eight-ton truck with no brakes.

"That’s enough, Team Leader Hong! What do you think you’re—!"

At that moment, Choi Changshik, who had been keeping his mouth tightly shut, spoke up.

"That’s right."

Everyone’s eyes turned to him.

"I stayed there for three days out of guilt."

"Are you admitting to the murder charge?"

"No."

Choi Changshik continued, his expression firm.

"The accident happened purely because of my greed.

I deserved the criticism I got for my past behavior, and no party wanted to take me in. Naturally, I couldn’t build up D-Class Gate records.

So that day, I got greedy at the Goblin Cave when strange signs appeared."

"……."

"I thought maybe—just maybe—I could finally get a D-Class Gate record. So I pushed forward with the raid.

But……."

Choi Changshik’s clenched fists began to tremble.

He was angry.

"I overestimated myself and failed to protect my comrade.

As a result, Jihoon died."

Tears welled up in his eyes.

"Everything…… everything was my fault.

I might as well have killed Jihoon with my own hands."

It felt genuine.

Everyone watching him wore a sorrowful expression.

Some even had tears in their eyes.

Only Hong Yura looked at him with a confused, conflicted expression.

"……Understood. That’s it for the interviews. Please exit."

After the candidates left, Professor Ji and Warrant Officer Choi stared at Hong Yura with reproachful eyes.

Warrant Officer Choi asked.

"Why did you go that far?"

"……My younger brother once worked under him for a week."

"Hmm?"

"He was such a bright kid, but after just a week, he was completely broken.

He developed depression, panic disorder, and even social phobia."

Professor Ji and Warrant Officer Choi looked like they couldn’t quite understand.

Warrant Officer Choi asked again.

"……Are you sure you didn’t mistake him for someone else?"

"No. I met him myself."

Hong Yura continued blankly.

"Maybe people really can change."

Her gaze as she looked out the window was distant, empty.

**

"Nice to meet you all."

A few days later, we booked an F-Class Gate, and as scheduled, I gathered a team of five including myself and Lee Yuna.

"Thank you for contacting us!"

"Good to meet you."

"……."

Seong Yohan, Im Jin-sol, Hong Soo-ah.

All newly gathered D-Class Hunters, each with solid abilities.

‘I hope there won’t be any problems.’

Even after my meeting with Seong Yohan, love calls from Hunters wanting to join me flooded in.

There were even scout offers from C-Class Hunters already belonging to other parties.

‘No reason to lower my head in this situation.’

After all, I had a Predator-Type Trait.

Since I had to hunt monsters almost exclusively for myself, I had to avoid any situation where I’d have to be overly conscious of others.

Running the party myself was far more comfortable.

"Today we’ll try working together, and if it goes well, we’ll move forward with this team."

"Ooh!"

Out of the eleven Hunters I met with, these were the best picks based on attitude, ability, and character.

"Let me introduce you. This is Hunter Seong Yohan. He’ll be in charge of tanking and emergency healing for the team."

"Huh? Tanking and... healing?"

Im Jin-sol looked at Seong Yohan with a baffled expression.

"What kind of ability do you have…?"

"I can transfer wounds."

Hearing Seong Yohan’s reply, Im Jin-sol tilted her head and asked again.

"Transfer wounds?"

"Haha. I’ll show you directly inside the Gate."

I continued introducing the others.

"This is Hunter Im Jin-sol. As you can see, she uses a bow."

Im Jin-sol carried a compound bow on her back.

Each of her arrows was treated with mana stones, making them extremely expensive.

Normally, used arrows were retrieved and reused.

"Nice to meet you. I'm Im Jin-sol."

"And finally, this is Hunter Hong Soo-ah. She uses ice magic."

When all eyes turned to her, Hong Soo-ah ducked her head and barely managed to speak.

"……I look forward to working with you."

She had a very shy personality.

The reason I still chose her was because she had extremely impressive credentials.

Hong Soo-ah had the most D-Class Gate raiding experience among us.

‘She recently became a freelancer.’

After personally checking into her background, I found that two of her former teammates had died during a Gate raid, and the other three had scattered.

It was a fairly common case in this line of work.

‘This is the perfect timing.’

Since there were plenty of applicants, I could build the team exactly how I wanted.

"Alright, let’s head out."

Today’s Gate was located near Exit 2 of Daeyami Station on Line 4.

Since it was right at a subway station, there was no need to go around picking up team members individually.

As usual, the Bureau staff were controlling the area around the Gate.

As I approached, one of the staff members recognized me and spoke.

"Are you Hunter Choi Changshik?"

"That’s right."

I thought this would be a good chance to show off the signature I had been practicing, but she extended her hand.

Just as I was about to grab it, she spoke.

"Please show me your Hunter license."

"Ah……, here it is."

I had gotten used to fans occasionally asking for autographs and handshakes.

So at first, I thought she was another fan, but judging by the situation, she clearly didn’t know me at all.

‘Good thing I realized before trying to shake her hand.’

She photographed my Hunter license with a blank expression, tapped on her device, and said.

"Hunter Choi Changshik, C-Class, verified."

Then, glancing between her device and our party, she tilted her head and asked.

"Only Hunter Lee Yuna is officially registered in your party, but the number of people seems a bit high?"

"These three are mercenaries. We’re working together today to see if we’ll form a formal party."

The Bureau staff member looked over the three and said blandly.

"Could I see your Hunter licenses?"

After collecting and scanning their Hunter licenses, she said in a businesslike tone.

"The interior of the Gate is cave-type, and the monsters are suspected to be bloodsucking bats."

"Bloodsucking bats?"

"Yes. We discovered traces of bloodsucking bat droppings near the beginning of the Gate."

It was rare to be able to identify the monsters before even entering a Gate.

Normally, Bureau staff could only inspect Gates with a mana-stone-enhanced endoscopic camera, and traces of monsters rarely appeared near the entrance.

‘Bloodsucking bats, huh.’

Bloodsucking bats were monsters over one meter in length—several times bigger than goblins—but not particularly threatening.

‘We got lucky.’

Their greatest weapons were their claws and fangs, but even if bitten, they weren’t particularly dangerous, making them easy to deal with.

Moreover, because of their highly aggressive nature, they would attack on sight, making them perfect for combat training.

‘They’re perfect for a skills test.’

Low in danger but satisfying to fight—bloodsucking bats were like the sandbags of the monster world.

"Everyone, turn on your headlamps and follow me. I’ll go in first."

One by one, we entered the Gate.

Five beams of light illuminated the narrow cave interior, making it as bright as day.

Naturally, we fell into formation.

Seong Yohan and I took the vanguard, while the others took the rear—a textbook setup.

‘Without even needing to say anything. Guess that’s just basic for them.’

The way they held their positions and kept their surroundings in check spoke to their experience.

Honestly, I was very satisfied.

"Starting the raid now."

Maintaining our formation, we slowly made our way deeper into the cave.